Photo caption: From left, Ms. Patience Oniha, DG, DMO Nigeria; Bola Onadele. Koko, CEO, FMDQ Group; representative of the Lagos State Governor and the Special Adviser to the Lagos State Government on the Sustainable Development Goals and Investments, Mrs. Solape Hammond; Representative of the Group Managing Director, Access Bank Plc and Executive Director of the bank, Victor Etuokwu; and Representative of the CEO and Senior Manager, Corporate Finance & Corporate Development, North-South Power Company Limited, Ms. Kehinde Fanimokun; at the official launch of FMDQ Green Exchange.
Stakeholders in the Nigerian capital market, on Monday, November 8, 2021, gathered for the launch of the FMDQ Green Exchange, a virtual information repository platform, which Bola Onadele. Koko, Chief Executive Officer, FMDQ Group said, was necessitated by the fact that climate change has increasingly become one of the biggest risks facing the world today.
Speaking during the event attended virtually and physically, he said the green exchange initiative was “in recognition of an even greater need to promote economic development in Nigeria through green and sustainable finance.
“We are indeed proud to note that the launch of Nigeria’s premier Green Exchange places Nigeria, and by extension, Africa, amongst other global jurisdictions with securities exchanges with such exclusive platforms, such as the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, which launched the world’s first and leading dedicated platform for sustainable finance (the Luxembourg Green Exchange), amongst others,” he stressed.
In his keynote address, Governor of Lagos State, who was represented by his Special Adviser on the SDGs and Investments, Mrs. Solape Hammond, said a Green Exchange offers “investors a transparent, effective platform for accessing the African sustainability finance market and thereby opening the doors of deep sustainable funds for infrastructure and social development, is almost immeasurable. There is, therefore, no doubt that the FMDQ Green Exchange will assist in unlocking sustainable resiliency.” He also reiterated Lagos State’s commitment to championing and supporting initiatives geared towards the sustainable socio-economic development of Lagos State, and the nation at large.
The event was also attended by other capital market stakeholders, including the Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Nigeria, Lamido Yuguda, the pioneer issuers of green securities on FMDQ Exchange – Debt Management Office, Nigeria (DMO); Access Bank Plc; and North-South Power Company Limited (NSP), sustainability enthusiasts, as well as others in the global sustainable finance space, amongst others.
According to a statement by the FMDQ Group, another highlight of the event was the execution of a Listing Agent and Cooperation Agreement between FMDQ Exchange and the Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSE) to facilitate the dual listing of securities issued by financial institutions and corporates domiciled in Nigeria on both bourses.
Speaking on the development, Ms. Julie Becker, Chief Executive Officer, LuxSE expressed pleasure at signing the “Cooperation Agreement with FMDQ Exchange and will work together to create synergies and connections across our markets.
“I look forward to further exploring new fields of cooperation in the area of green finance.”
Lauding this initiative, Ms. Tumi Sekoni, Managing Director, FMDQ Exchange, said “Indeed, we are excited to be executing a Listing Agent & Cooperation Agreement with LuxSE, and hopeful that this partnership will birth an avenue for FMDQ Exchange and LuxSE to achieve formidable market cooperation and promote even greater information symmetry for the benefit of the Nigerian and global financial markets”.
There were goodwill messages from FMDQ’s markets stakeholders, like Ms. Patience Oniha, Director-General, DMO; Herbert Wigwe, Group Managing Director/CEO, Access Bank Plc; Engr. Olubunmi Peters, Executive Vice Chairman/CEO, NSP; Dr. Doyin Salami, Vice Chairman, Financial Centre for Sustainability, Lagos; Bolaji Balogun, Chairman, Steering Committee, FMDQ Debt Capital Market Development Project; Ben Llewellyn-Jones, Deputy High Commissioner, British High Commission, Lagos; among others.
